Park Chan-wook's Films Push the Boundaries of Sex and Violence—But That's Not His Intention

With The Handmaiden, South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook has made one of is most accomplished films yet. Like the revenge trilogy that famously includes Park's hyper-violent Oldboy, The Handmaiden feels like a film that was designed with the goal of provoking emotions from viewers.

Park, a meticulous stylist, co-adapted Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith with co-writer Seo-Kyung Chung into a story about two con artists—Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha) and Sookee (Tae-ri Kim)—who try to seduce and abandon wealthy Japanese heiress Hideko (Min-hee Kim), the bride of eccentric, erotica-obsessed Count Kouzuki (Jin-woong Jo). It's an intricate story with genuinely playful, steamy sex scenes. Park spoke with Esquire with the help of a translator about classical music, creating a rapport with his cast of actors, and how he depicts sex on film.

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ESQ: You sometimes like to get your actors together in a social setting outside of formal rehearsals so that they can bond and figure out their characters together. Did you do that for The Handmaiden?

Park Chan-wook: Yes, as I've done on all my other films. I encourage my actors to have meals together with me. I also encourage them to socialize outside of work so that they become good friends. I would always find excuses for meeting up with them, whether it's someone's birthday or we finished the script. In Korea, we have a tradition where we wish good luck for the completion of the upcoming shoot after we complete the script. We would hold the ceremony, and invite everybody to get together. Any excuse to get everybody together.

You gave your cast and crew music CDs to indicate what kind of mood you wanted to foster for the film. What music was on there?

I gave them three CDs of music, so there was lots of music on there. Mostly chamber music, mostly Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert... 20th Century composers, too.

How did the cast respond?

I never really asked! [Laughs] I mainly thought that the actors would hear the music for mood... It's very romantic music. I thought it would help them imagine what the scenes would be like.

How did you pick which erotic texts, drawings and passages that your characters find in Kouzuki's library?

In terms of the drawings, I had members of the art department of the art department whose only job was to do research on the kinds of paintings and drawings that we should use as references. They would do this research for months. While we were shooting on location in Japan, I went with my art designers to different bookstores for different paintings and inspirations. Of the thousands we have collected, I picked and chose. And for most of the drawings and paintings, we went through a process where we would change the drawings a bit, retouch them. As for the readings, my co-writer Seo-Kyung Chung found those passages that we used. We set them down together, and very freely changed the text around, just like we changed the pictures around. I wrote all the writing you find in the film. I didn't do the calligraphy myself, but I wrote the text.

Park Chan-wook on set of 'The Handmaiden'

Magnolia Pictures / Amazon Studios

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What kind of changes were made to these texts and paintings? What kind of language or images were you emphasizing?

The changes were made so that the texts would function better within the necessities of the scenes. These texts were written without consideration of this movie, so changes were unavoidable. I would change the texts to something more straightforward, like "Into a vagina, I put my thing in there." This was done so that we, like the reader in the film, get the sense that we're listening to something erotic. But then boom, you hear a direct expression like that. I wanted that kind of impact. That's something I wrote. So it was intended for effect.

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You typically storyboard your scenes, and love the effect of cross-cutting. The Handmaiden's sex scenes have a very precise focus. How long did they take to shoot and how closely did you storyboard those scenes?

I worked on storyboarding for about two-and-a-half months. I would do that with the director of photography, and the storyboard artist. We would work on every panel together, from the first to last shot. We would conduct the location scouting, and the construction of the set around the same time. That way, these things can inform each other. It depends on the film, but I tend to stick to my storyboards about 80-90 percent of the time.

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You typically don't like to give your actors that much direction when they're in front of the camera, but The Handmaiden's sex scenes seem to require them to perform and be posed in very specific way. Or is that a misconception? Was there more or less directing of your actors than usual?

When I say that I don't do too much asking of my actors when they're in front of the camera, I mean that I do all that work during pre-production, when I have a lot of time with my actors. It really depends on the actors as well, but when it comes to newcomers, I hope to more or less talk to the actor more, and give more direction.

When it comes to sex scenes, it is better for the actors if we can get it done quickly, and move on rather than talk a lot about it with the actors on the day of the shoot. I would describe events with a lot of detail from the scriptwriting stage. Also during storyboarding: it would show the exact angle and the exact body parts of what's being shown. I would talk to the actors a lot about what's good, or what's not comfortable for them. So when we do get to the shoot, they're already very aware of the exact position of the camera, where they'll be, and what will be shown. I'll only do one or two takes for each shot—very, very quickly.

Usually, when I do rehearsals with the actors, it involves all of us sitting around and talking a lot about the action behind the dialogue, thoughts behind them from me, and the actors' perspective. The exceptions to this rule are any scenes involving action choreography, dance choreography, or sex scenes. Any instances where you need to move your body about.

Magnolia Pictures / Amazon Studios

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Speaking of choreography: you've said in previous interviews that you don't like shooting "playful violence." But the sex in The Handmaiden is very playful. Which is striking since nobody is dominating anybody else during these scenes: it's a matter of one-upmanship, but not of domination. How did you determine the choreography for the sex scenes?

I had a set of principles in designing these sex scenes. I didn't want them to come across from the perspective of the male gaze; these scenes shouldn't objectify women's bodies. And I didn't want to shoot it in the way that it would appear like characters are there to relieve their sexual desires. In other words, if the scene involved a man, I didn't want the point of the scene be about making the man ejaculate. I wanted to do a sex scene where the process is the joy of it—the kind of sex where you can feel the intimacy between the two characters, where it is, as you say, a game. Sex where you laugh a lot, talk a lot, and even cry sometimes.

When it comes to violence and sex, it is not my goal to push the boundaries. It's not what my filmmaking is about.

Historically speaking, violence is sexualized in movies because filmmakers are often responding or reacting to censorship: they show sex through violence because they can't show it as sex. What has been your experience with Korean censors?

This movie is R-rated, and I usually make my films within the ratings system. I operate within it so I know that the film will be released with a certain rating. I don't intend ever to go beyond that. To go beyond that, you would get the kind of rating where it wouldn't matter if your movie opened at all. Because I work within the boundaries of the ratings system, I don't need to find ways to smuggle in those elements. When it comes to violence and sex, it is not my goal to push the boundaries. It's not what my filmmaking is about.

What do you feel are your responsibilities as a filmmaker when it comes to shooting violence? How does the moral dimension of shooting violence effect you as a storyteller?

I'm not doing it because I like it. To show violence, how can anyone get joy out of it? I show violence because of my belief that somebody should show all this incredible amounts of violence that goes on in the world. It's important to say something about it, and it's my interest to be vocal about the violence in the world that motivates me. What I'm interested is not the violent acts themselves, but the emotions of those people involved in an act of violence. In order to get across these emotions in the most realistic way, sometimes I choose not to avoid showing acts of violence.

As a spectator, have you seen any recent movies that depict violence and/or sex in an interesting way?

The Lobster comes immediately to mind, specifically a scene where a hotel maid comes into a patron's room, and, in a very dry manner, takes care of the protagonist's sexual desire.

Would you ever consider directing an opera? You seem to have the instincts for it... Maybe Strauss's Elektra or Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

Haven't seen either of them. I'm a novice when it comes to opera. When I go to London in a few days' time, I'll see the new film based on Shostakovich's opera. He's one of my favorite composers, so I need to see that opera, for sure.

You should do Shostakovich's The Nose!

I own a performance of it on Blu-ray... Elektra, too. But I've never seen it.